The invention pertains to a restraint system for the occupants of a vehicle according to the features in the introductory clause of Claim 1.
To ensure the safety of the occupants of land vehicles, aircraft, and watercraft, restraint systems suitable to each case are installed. A combination of an airbag and a safety belt as well as means for tensioning the belt are used to minimize the consequences of an accident. Whereas the safety belt, which has been tensioned during the course of an accident, holds the vehicle occupant securely in his seat, the inflated airbag decelerates at least certain parts of the accelerated body of the passenger. These devices in their totality significantly decrease the forces of deceleration which act on the vehicle occupants when an accident occurs. The injuries which might result from an accident are therefore reduced or possibly even prevented entirely.
Whereas the tensioned safety belt reduces the acceleration of the torso when the vehicle is involved in a collision, the extremities and especially the head are still subject to initial acceleration and deflection. To reduce the deflection of the head and to cushion its impact in closed vehicles, head airbags are used, which are installed in the area of the door, the pillar, or the roof. So that the airbag, when in its original position, will be as close as possible to the body areas of the occupant to be protected, systems are already known which mount the airbag on the safety belt.